Gardening

depends on where you live.  some people can garden year round.  some people, even those up in Maine (like Elliot Coleman, see Four Season Harvest) can use coldframes, plastic coated tunnels low tunnels, high tunnels, hoophouses, and greenhouses.  I have wanted to set up some coldframes for years, but have not yet done it.  

A lot of your gardening would begin in spring time.  If you are interested in starting your own plants from seeds, then you should begin now – onions, brassicas like cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.  In another 4 weeks or so, you could begin tomatoes.  but that’s based off of a zone 6 frost free date.  you can look up what zone you’re in.

Some great resources for beginners are The All New Square Foot Garden, and the Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook.  There are so so so many resources – there’s even a “For Dummies” guide to vegetable gardening.  i’d step into the library and just pick a book or two off the shelf to start famliiarizing yourself with the processes.

Essentially, you need to decide if you want raised beds (basically some timber shaped in a square or rectangle then filled with a soil mix) or if you want to plant directly in ground.  If you plant in ground, it’s best to look for an area of full sun, and consider getting your soil tested, so you know how to ammend it.  when the ground is workable, you’ll need to remove sod, ammend the soil and turn it over or till.  you’ll need to plan what you are planting before you make the garden, so you know what to plant when, and where (see http://www.growveg.com/Default.aspx for a great online site that even helps you space your plants and everything).  then once you know what you want to plant, you can start acquiring seeds and plants.  I don’t often buy plants other than a few herbs, but if you aren’t crazy like me and you’d like to start small and easy, buy most of your plants the first time around.

These are some things to plant early, when it’s still kinda cold (like April by me in NJ): kale, peas, snap peas, lettuce, spinach, chard, cabbage, broccoli.  Of these, you need to start seeds for (or buy plants from a nursery) kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages.  the rest can be directly seeded into workable soil.

Things that go in a bit later, say mid May would be cucumbers, beets, green beans, squashes, and yes, the tomato – so long as you have plants or you’ve started some tomato plants indoors 6-8 weeks before plant out date.

There is so much to cover, so much fun info out there, I’d say, pick a book for a beginner – like the Square Foot Garden book (i love this one) or the gardening for dummies book.  look for a simple how to book.  this is a passion of mine and i’ll ge glad to help you along if i can.

where are you located and what are your interests/hopes for the garden?

AMy

Dana, you’re in the same zone as I. I plant all year round. You just need to mulch the greens before freezing (first frost date-Oct. 31). It’s really great to do a fall garden because after you cut down the greens (don’t pull them) they will restart their growing as soon as temps. are right and then you have two gardens for the activity of one! The same things you plant in fall are the same as in spring.

You need to learn the first and last frost dates and what to plant and when. Also, which plants need what nutrients the most and when; plus decide how you’re going to handle bugs and insects. Then there’s the rotation of the plants if you plan to do this more than once!

I handle everything organically/homemade natural. I also use companion planting. I recommend you have what you need in advance since gardening wholistically means more preventative and maintenance than just spraying and killing whenever. So you’ll need to decide how you want to handle fertilizing and insects/bugs-conventionally or organically. I have some recommends there if you decide naturally.

I also second the recommendation for the Sq. ft. Gardening book. Being your first time, I’d recommend purchasing as many transplants as possible instead of seed starting and plant those seeds that can gp directly in the ground, too; and save seed starting for next year.

You should make a list of what ya’ll eat plus a couple of adventurous items and then look up when to plant them, their needs, etc. Start small, but be adventurous.

One of my favorite gardening books is “Carrots love Tomatoes”. It tells you what does best planted next to each other and some that help repel pests. I use it every spring to plan my garden.

I second, Carrots Love Tomatoes. 

We garden year round, but we live in Zone 8, bordering 9 in TX. Currently, we are getting the garden tilled, adding in compost as we go. We still actually have a patio tomato (Juliet) that has produced a handful of treats off and on all winter. Normally, we’d still be eating broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, but we had a grasshopper disaster late in November and decided not to replant. 

For Spring, we will plant three kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, scalloped squash, contender bush beans, filet beans, bell peppers, eggplant, and cantaloupe. The cantaloupe is a change from watermelon due to space and a desire to change fruit this year. 

Our 13yos has his own garden. I’m hoping he leans to an onion patch. Our big garden has no more room and inuse onions almost daily. He takes care of the dewberries and Brazos berries, and the fig, peach, and plum trees. 

I’m starting seeds for landscaping my new Peter Rabbit “garden.” It’s basically a flower garden with blackberries in the center. ;0)

You may consider strawberries or patio tomatoes with limited room. Herbs can be grown year round in pots near a sunny window. 

There’s a book called Herbal Remedies in Pots (I believe that’s the name. Currently,  it’s out in the library.) That would bs a fun project, especially if you like tea. ;0)

Blessings,

Becca<><

If you are interested in gardening as an activity to do with your children, I *highly* recommend the book Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots.  (My kids are the same age as yours and we love that book, although it is beneficial for children of a variety of ages!)  Many libraries seem to carry it.  Have fun!  🙂